Shadow of Chaos
by ShimoRyu
Summary: Kotaro, seen as a demon by most, one day by chance meets a young girl who shows no fear towards him or most things. Shortly after she becomes his apprentice. These are the tales of the random adventures at Odawara. Story suggestions accepted , and I can't write a summary to save my life!
1. Prologue

Kotaro walked through the village that had suffered greatly in a recent battle. Houses were destroyed, innocents lay dead and everything had overall been thrown into disaster. The ninja of chaos was used to the time of war, and in fact almost seemed to enjoy it most of the time, but even he was slightly surprised at the cruelty of the enemy. The village was simply in the way of the battle, and so it was decimated without a second thought. Nothing was left except debris. There were no visible survivors for most of a walk through. Until he came across a young girl just standing there. She saw the ninja that many assumed was a demon, but just simply stood there, showing no signs of fear. In fact there was seemingly nothing in her eyes that showed any signs of caring for the lost village even though that was obviously her home.

Kotaro walked over to her. "Everything you know is gone, and yet you show no sadness, no fear."

The girl looked up at him with a completely serious expression. "I have no reason to. I've been an orphan all my life, ever since my mother died and my father left." She turned back to staring forward at the destruction. "I've had to fend for myself all my life. Stealing and sneaking around just to survive."

Kotaro had another thought occur. "You do not fear me either."

"I've obviously had to deal with my personal demons my whole life. Plus if you want to survive on your own, you have to abandon fear. If you're too afraid to do something, then it could cause a fatal misstep or mistake." For a girl seemingly around twelve years old she spoke with great seriousness. She was definitely the type who had to grow up too fast. The sympathetic side of the chaos ninja was suddenly being felt the more he talked to her.

"What's your name?" He asked. "Kage." The girl simply replied. "It's not my real name but the people selling food at the village market used to say that a shadow carried off their goods when something went missing. So I adopted the name."

_She sounds like the type who would become a skilled ninja with some training. _"Kage, how about you come to Odawara Castle? I could teach you to hone your talents, and you would have a place to stay."

Kage looked up at Kotaro once again with that serious look. "I have nowhere else to go." Then she smiled and nodded. "So I'll gladly come!"

* * *

Alright, I really should explain this one... After watching Kotaro's cutscenes from Samurai Warriors 3: Extreme Legends on Youtube, and reading the translation on the Koei Wiki, I realized that Kotaro actually does have a kind side. However I may have played it up too much in this one... Anyway, I really need some practice with this character, so this may end up being a series of one-shots! If you have suggestions of stories feel free to PM or say it in a review! It should be noted however that this is NOT a romance story!


	2. Chapter 1

This chapter covers about a month and a half's worth of Kage's training, and it only goes so fast because I didn't wat to add all the details of what happens. I've also posted a couple of references on my Deviantart account of Kage if anyone wants to see them. (I've used one of them as the cover picture!)

* * *

After a few days the two of them arrived at Odawara Castle. The moment they walked through the entrance, Kotaro and Kage were "attacked" by Kai, and simply greeted by Ujiyasu.

"Who's this?" Kai asked as she saw the girl standing next to Kotaro.

"This Kage, she's my apprentice." Kotaro smiled at the look on Kai's face, and even Kage had a slight smile on her face. Ujiyasu on the other hand didn't seem surprised at all. If the girl didn't seem the least bit frightened around him, then obviously the two would be fine. Kotaro looked down at Kage then back at Kai and Ujiyasu. "Kage, this is Kai and Ujiyasu. Ujiyasu is our lord and leader of the Hojo clan. Kai is sort of his student."

"Pleasure to meet you both." Kage said simply as she bowed. Then Kotaro led her down the halls of the castle. The maze of hallways and stairs was difficult to follow but eventually they stopped at a door.

This will be your room." Kotaro said. "I expect to see you in the courtyard first thing in the morning for you first lesson." Then he opened the door to his room next door and disappeared inside. Kage walked into her room and barely looked around for a few seconds before curling up and going into the first peaceful sleep she'd had in years.

* * *

The next morning the student and teacher stood in the center of the castle courtyard. Kage's first test was to simply sneak up on Kotaro. He'd have his eyes closed which made the task sound simple, but there was a catch. There were several near invisible strings strung all around, and each one had a bell on the end. When touched the string would cause the bell to jingle alerting Kotaro to Kage's exact location. So in truth not as easy as it was originally thought to be. Kage walked over to one of the corners of the courtyard. All she had to do was complete the challenge three times in a row and training would be done for the day. Kotaro from his spot in the center raised his hand in the signal to begin.

Kage quietly made her way towards the center not going in a straight path in hopes of not hitting one of the strings, and was doing quite well to avoid them until she was about six feet away from Kotaro. The sound of a bell was heard as her foot hit the trip wire, and a kunai knife flew past her face missing on purpose. "Try again."

This happened several more times until Kage finally made to her teacher and tapped him on the shoulder. "Good, now two more times."

The next two tries ended in failure, and ended up being temporally paused as Kai had seen the kunai fly past Kage. This only led to an argument on teaching methods, which was won by Kotaro when Kai eventually learned it was pointless to argue with him. After that Kage managed to make it through the three times after careful memorization of the position of the bells.

"Good work. We'll try again tomorrow and see if you can clear it faster." Upon hearing that Kage nodded and walked back to her room.

* * *

The next week and a half or so was spent working on this until Kage could fully master working out were the trap was by the most subtle signs. The trick as she eventually learned was look at a certain angle or if it was in the shadows reflect some light onto the area to find it. Using this knowledge she was eventually able to clear the three times in a row without any trial runs and mistakes.

She was giving two days off from practice then came the day of weapons practice. There were four targets set in a row across one side of the courtyard. Kage was shown how to throw a shuriken and then was given four to throw at the targets. One ended up at the edge, the next just a little farther in than the first, the third in the first ring, and the fourth right in between the first and second rings. Her goal for today was on dead center, and after what felt like a hundred throws she finally made that goal.

It took much longer to master that and any of the other weapons then the walking quietly test did, but after a little month she had nearly mastered the kunai, shuriken, and battle claws that were Kotaro's weapon of choice. However she completely surprised her teacher when she chose a bamboo staff as her weapon. Even back when she was in her village, Kage was good with staffs or make-shift ones. Often when she needed to defend herself, a large stick or piece of wood that could easily be found was her go-to method. Kage just thought it would be smart to pick something she was familiar with, and Kotaro just nodded. Kage then took her leave from their training area then grabbed a book from her room and tried to find a place to read quietly where Kai wouldn't find and bug her as usual.

* * *

As a note, I'm still up for plot suggestions. I have a little planned out but not much. Even characters interactions that you readers would like to see may be suggested! Also this is my first third-person story so I apologize if the writing seems weird! Also, I always answer the reviews from the previous chapter in this part so here goes!

From Ayyarin: This has so much potential! Kotaro has such a fearsome reputation of being a terrifying ninja, and Kage is like an emotionless doll. She would be perfect as his apprentice. Together, they could become legendary, mwahaha!

It's nice actually that Kotaro has a somewhat nicer side to him. But maybe you could add an objective behind each of his nicer motives? Which is what you have already done by providing Kage the opportunity to train under him. I would say that you could make those motives sound darker for his personal gain, but I don't know what sort of Kotaro you want to write: the usual dark Kotaro, or the Kotaro with a secret softer side.

Kage would also probably sound more frightening if she spoke in a more formal tone and somewhat with less words, but again, I've got no idea what sort of Kage you're writing yet as this is just the first chapter.

So I'm looking forward to seeing what sort of characters you will develop in this story :D Keep it up!

Reply: Thank you for the compliments on this one! I'm ind of writing Kotaro as still being his normal self as most know him as, but with showing his kind side towards his allies. As for Kage she's kind of the serious type who comes off as cold, distant, and near-heartless until you gain her trust. (Which is really hard to do!) Anyway, I'm glad you enjoy the beginning of this story and I hope you enjoy reading the rest! I've been reading your story Walker of Time and think that's great as well!


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